SSN is a digest of the day's soccer/football/futbol articles with a focus on the top European leagues and the United States National Team. Below, you’ll find links to articles and video, as well as additional features and commentary. We locate the top news of the day so you can stay updated with ease.
The floodlights are on, the stadium is packed, and the familiar stocky figure of Brazilian World Cup winner Roberto Carlos is galloping down the left wing. The strange thing about this scene is where it takes place – in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan. A chunk of mountainous land on the southern fringes of Russia, looking out on the Caspian Sea, in recent years Dagestan has been known mainly for its poverty and violence. The rumbling Islamic insurgency claims victims almost daily among policemen and government officials.
Argentina on Thursday appointed Alejandro Sabella as national team coach to replace sacked Sergio Batista, the federation's general secretary Jose Luis Meiszner announced.
"The decision has been taken. Sabella is the choice," Meiszner told official news agency Telam.
Second from the right...
Off The Ball never rests in its mission to scratch around the underbelly of professional football to find the most bizarre, humorous and inexplicable stories.
This week, Neuchatel Xamax's owner continues his sacking ways, Gary Neville is dubbed the "best ever", Mario Balotelli incurs Roberto Mancini's wrath, Sergio Aguero isn't the Che Guevara of football and Paul Sturrock likes Wheatus.
Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy admits it is hard to get excited about today's Europa League third-qualifying-round tie at RNK Split. The 34-year-old won the competition a decade ago with Liverpool but today faces a first leg tie against Croatian minnows Split, who finished third in the top flight last season after successive promotions from the fourth tier.
Chelsea have lodged a formal complaint with the Malaysian Football Association alleging that the club's Israel midfielder Yossi Benayoun was the subject of antisemitic abuse during last week's friendly in Kuala Lumpur.
In lieu of any actual football the summer break can be a confusing time. Are Norwich really better than Spurs, as the current alphabetical table suggests? Is QPR's Kieron Dyer a classy Premier League operator, or someone who loves lying on physiotherapy tables and being massaged? And is Gervinho a classic-era Wenger find from the ether, or a post-injury Eduardo clone?
For the past three summers, big-name European teams have been coming to the United States for preseason exhibition matches against each other and MLS teams. Problem is, MLS squads have started to become the Washington Generals to the European teams’ Harlem Globetrotters - a sideshow to the main attraction. And it’s not helping their cause - on the field or off.
Argentina striker Sergio Aguero has arrived in Manchester to complete his move to Manchester City after they agreed a fee with Atletico Madrid. The 23-year-old frontman is reported to have agreed terms on a five-year deal, with the fee thought to be about £38m.
One of the highlights of a week in California has definitely been the chance to see David Beckham in his pants.
What kind of club do you think would provoke these kinds of comments on message boards?
Batista, who took over a year ago, was Argentina's fourth coach in five years and had the same problem as his predecessor Diego Maradona: little tactical experience and an inability to get superstars to play as a team rather than as individuals.
Four weeks ago, my column about relocating to a football diaspora mentioned the North German club Holstein Kiel and noted in passing that their fans and players are known as the 'Storks'. The resourceful Soccernet editors thereupon illustrated the piece with a picture of the club's mascot, a stork called Stolle, which prompted a reader to remark: "I would have guessed Holstein Kiel's mascot to be a cow." He meant no disrespect, I hasten to explain. Kiel, as noted, is in Schleswig-Holstein, hence the club's official name, and that region is famous for a breed of cattle - the Holstein or Holstein-Friesian cow, if you must know.
Calling all Evertonians.
Tony Adams hardly made the most auspicious of starts. Thousands of miles from home and in a tiny town that he surely had not heard of at the beginning of last year, he watched his ticket to managerial redemption threaten to flutter away. After three matches of the Azerbaijani league season, Gabala FC had failed to pick up a point.The reaction in England was predictable.
